Oh, I've talked to him about the need for more
research money and more funds for the
state mental hospitals, and he has done
a little something about it, not very
much.

Q:

Well, has he shown any greater interest?

Lasker:

No, no, he hasn't shown any great interest in
research. I was at a dinner a few weeks
ago where he talked about what they'd
done for cerebral palsied children--it
was a large dinner of about a thousand
people--and he interrupted himself and
looked at me and said, “I can hear Mary
Lasker say, ‘Well, that's fine. How much
more are you going to give them next
year?’” And he did introduce me, after
he introduced all the other members of
the state government on the dais, by
saying, “Although Mrs. Lasker does not
have any official office, she does
influence the government.”

But other than that, he hasn't changed a great
deal. He's still very lively and
charming and agreeable, but not
interested in this problem, really.

To go back to the Eisenhower plans for '54, only
25 million was put in the budget for the
health reinsurance plan. Rehabilitation
and construction programs were sketchily
provided for. The construction program
could have been done under the existing
Hill-Burton legislation, but instead of
this the Eisenhower Administration
decided to introduce additional
legislation for the construction of
facilities for the chronically